Elegy
by HellMan1721
Summary: After revenge came revolution, and after it all must come redemption. A horned baby, pale of skin falls down on Sasuke's hands. What will he do with it? Kill it, or let it live? Will he dirty himself in blood, or let a disaster happen? But long ago has he learned that disasters don't have to go with the family name, be it Uchiha, or Ōtsutsuki.
1. Prologue

The winter winds pierced the skin akin to razor blades, the snow fell down hard, swallowing the area around in a silent mist. Long ago has winter came to these lands, and have never left since. A father had no other tales to his sons but of cold death, as his father did, and his father before him. Generations were born and buried in hopeless darkness, with a dream of spring...

And through the darkness came a traveller. Forcing the tired body through the blizzard, he clutched to a bundle under his cape. Far away, he saw a mountain coming out of the mist, and seeing this beacon in the storm made him exhale his fear, and breath in hope.

\- A little more.., - he said, speeding up.

But then, he stopped dead in his tracks. A wild roar raved through his mind, confusing his senses, making him think he misheard it.

**But he have heard it, and now he sees it.**

Just as he forced his ears to listen, his eyes have saw shadows, as natural as one's own, catching up rapidly to him. Not even trying to make out the details, he recognised claws and teeth.

Forcing his legs to move faster and faster, he started running, as no man could, leaning his corpus forward. But the beasts didn't lose ground, catching up ever faster. And just as they seemed to be a bite's away from their prey, it jumped up high and spit out a ball of black fire. The shadows were stopped, terrible screams of anguish racketing the air. Though danger was dealt with, the traveller started limping, blood dripping in the clear snow. Looking back, a purple eye shed red tears.

As he hobbled into the cave, he used all his strength to not to fall down on the bundle under his cape. Slowly taking off his black garm with the same hand that held his package with, he revealed a stump in the place of his left arm, and perfectly crafted, but modest clothes purple and black of colors. His garm has definitely saw better times, but a careful hand has repaired it time and time again.

Carefully placing down the bundle, he then made some gestures with his only hand, and a scroll emerged with a small puff of smoke. Looking intensely at his hand, he saw a marking get erased from his armband. Slowly closing his eyes, he leant down with a sad smirk on his face.

\- Hardly even enough chakra to unseal a scroll.., - he said, sighing.

Looking back, the bundle captured his thoughts. Small lake of white cloth in the ocean of black.

Forcing all that he had into the scroll, he placed it down on the ground. Not a second later, a perfectly fine wooden log appeared with the same puff, and another, teared in two. The scroll under it all have teared itself apart, leaving smeared ink on it.

Suddenly, a great pain teared his mind in two. Carefully rolling up his sleeve with his teeth, he saw his old wounds open up, and blood running fast. But above all, black spots started appearing on his hand. Not even ten seconds have passed as he watched it progress, his hand was left fully black. Swiftly, he started to race through his pouch. As his hand emerged with a vial of blue substance, he tried to use it, when the vial just fell through his hand, as if it wasnt there, crashing in pieces over the rocks. Looking in horror at his hand, he carefully shifted it to the sword on his back. Freeing the steel, he looked at the bundle once more. A small white head with tiny horns peeked through the cloth. Tears started to run down the man's young face, black curls framing an eye of black and purple.

Onix flames swallowed his sword whole. Rising it up, he stroken himself right in the heart, down to the handle. As he did that, his hand has fallen down, strength leaving it. His eyes started to close, a strange lullaby laid him on his side. The rock floor of the cave didnt feel cold, the air didnt have this strange grasp over his lungs, but the bundle remained. Slowly closing his eyes, river of blood and tears flooded his face.

\- Forgive me...

And sleep has taken him, the black flame on his sword slowly dying out. The tip of the weapon, as it layed on the logs, ignited a live fire, its warmth and light spreading through the cave. With the birth of fire, the baby in the bundle started weeping, its cry forever gone in the endless night.


	2. Chapter 1: Stirring in the Dark

As the sun grudgingly dissapeared over the horizon, the world was plunged into darkness. And through the darkness the torches of two riders paved a path through the woods far below. Though the warm light of their fires fended off the dark, the cavity the sun left in the wake of its death gave off a bitter aftertaste, as though all of life has died with it, gone to play a mournful song of the night.

Holding his torch high above his head, the younger of the two men scanned the shadowed trees. Only the trunks of the older trees met his gaze, but still he could feel the predators just beyond, watching, waiting.

"How long do we have?" The younger man said, glancing at his partner for a brief moment. The other rider was in his forties, his hair graced with grey streaks, the reward for making it to old age in this day.

"Not long. Our undergrounds in the city were all raided within two days. The authorities spared no expense." He replied as he scratched his nose.

"A rat then?"

He shrugged, uncaring.

"Doesn't matter now, does it?" He replied bitterly, "The city unit is gone, all of it, men and resources. We can only hope to get as far away as possible now."

"But where to, Goro?" The younger replied. Finally believing that the predators in the shadows weren't going to leap out at him, or uncaring of it, he lowered his hood, revealing brazen mop of chestnut hair. "You can't be thinking the Land of Fire… The Shinobi will snap us like twigs the instant we reach the border."

"No no, Hibiki. I don't intend to get us trapped in the fox's lair. We'll head for the Hanguri Bay, and get out of here."

Hibiki was clearly unsatisfied with the response, and Goro could see the gears turning in his partner's mind.

"Well… even if we cross the bay and lay low in the Land of Rivers. The Doc will express his disappointment in us eventually, and then we're really fucked."

Goro had no reply, so he simply chose to remain silent and continue staring at the path ahead. Seeing a clearing ahead through the trees, Goro got off his horse, and Hibiki nervously followed suit.

The pair walked in silence for several moments, only the crunch of their boots on the dead leaves, and the crackling of their torches breaking the cold night air.

Coming to a pause in the clearing, Goro took a deep breath, steadying himself. Hibiki gasped in shock as Goro sprang at him, his torch falling to the ground. Gripping Hibiki by the throat, Goro slammed him into a fallen log of a great oak.

The younger bandits torch fell to the ground, forgotten, and Goro swiped it up with his free hand, preventing it from catching the dead leaves. Holding the torch high above his head, he made sure that Hibiki could see his face clearly.

"The Doc won't be unsatisfied with us, if you do… what I say… Do you understand that?" Goro growled, and Hibiki nodded frantically, unable to pry Goro's fingers from his neck. "Do not forget that you are the only one that 'miraculously' escaped capture. That was either a stroke of luck… or you, cunt, a goddamned traitor!"

Goro leaned closer to Hibiki's face, the torchlight reflecting murder in his eyes.

"I could kill you now," Goro whispered, barely constrained rage evident in his tone. "I could cave your skull in over this fucking tree, and no one would know. Much less give a damn."

Goro released his grip on Hibiki's neck, who immediately began desperately panting for air.

"So what will it be? Will you be loyal, or dead?"

Hibiki coughed violently, tears pouring from his eyes, his face red.

"L-Loyal…"

Goro grunted, and tossed the torch on the ground next to Hibiki before turning away.

"Pick that up, and lets get going." Goro ordered as he walked over to his horse. Although he saw the men in armor, the metal gleaming in the moonlight, step out of the treeline, he paid them no mind.

Handing over the reigns to his and Hibiki's horses, he followed the silent men into the woods. Hibiki stumbled in his hurry to catch up, rubbing his neck as he did so.

—

With their leader back, the cave started burning with activity, tents and goods were loaded onto wagons and horses, less armour, and more tattered robes and cloaks. Goro changed as well, adorning a torn robe, a moon necklace on his chest.

"We are leaving in half an hour, get going, gentlemen!"

Bypassing the river of activity, Goro stopped at his table at a secluded corner of the cave, staring at a map. His main goons circled around the table, intensely looking at their boss, as he run his finger over the map of the Land of Tea.

"We travel north-west through the forests to the closest road, bypassing any cities. If any supplies are needed, I allow sending no more than a group of three riders, but the convoy does not stop no matter what. City police might not want to interfere with a traveling commune, but we are not running from the police."

Looking at his associates to see if they got the idea, Goro continued.

"As we will get to the coast, we will have two ships standing by in the sea. We sail to the Land of Rivers, we escape this, we survive. Any objections?'"

None looked to have any, sharing stray looks with each other. Having been dismissed, the men went about their duties, with Goro left pondering over the map. He kept looking at the moon marks that were scattered al over the Elemental Nations, some were crossed out. Stroking his moon necklace, he kept on furrowing his brow.

As the meeting concluded, Hibiki went out of the cave, passing the guards at the entrance. As he looked on at the full moon above, he put a cigarette in his mouth, lightening it with a flick of his fingers.

"I guess their crazy moon obsession isn't all that out there", - he muttered, taking a drag of the nicotine stick. - "Heh, I guess they are moonstruck after all."

When it seemed as though that strange staring contest could go on and on, past the tobacco, past this night and beyond all life and death, as if only that singular stare is all that there would be, the guards called out to the man.

"Hibiki, boss inquires for your presence."

"Heh, 'inquires'? That's very gentle of him."

Taking a last puff of smoke into his lungs, he threw the butt high into the air. Turning to march back into the cave, he barely skipped a beat as his head came off his shoulders, landing a couple of feet at the side. The guards barely managed to acknowledge this occurrence, as an onyx form darted in the clearing, hitting the two with kunai, nailing them to the rocky walls of the cavern. The hooded figure walked past the unconscious men, sparing no glance to the decapitated Hibiki.

Slowly burrowing through the river of people, capturing more and more glances with his presence, he stopped at the center. Now every one and each of the bandits looked at him, as he lowered his hood, he revealed a mop of dark hair. The only visible eye was blood red. Eyeing his audience, Sasuke Uchiha threw off his coat altogether.

"I'm offering you mercy. Lay down your swords and walk out of that cavern, and get lost. I'm looking only for your leader."

The tension was palpable, and the men opposing the last of the Uchiha chose to break it by unsheathing their blades in a choir of steel.

"Very well. Come!"

And begun a dance of pain, suffering and agony as Sasuke dispatched each of the goons, one by one, not once drawing his own sword. He diverted the enemy's strike, disarming them, breaking their limbs, rendering each unable of further resistance. To an onlooker it was as if a majestic shark was burrowing through the flow of water, unbothered by the force of it. It only took him a single strike, and then on to the next, and the next. One could only hear muffled strikes, clatter of steel against the rocky grounds, and thumps of bodies soon after.

Soon the adversaries came to an end, leaving Sasuke in a pool of bodies. Then slow, metal claps echoed through, and Goro came forth, fully encased in blood red armour, gleaming like ruby in the fires of the hanging torches. On his head was a helmet resembling a strange horned demon.

"Impressive, Uchiha-san, impressive. Though, I must say, for a man of your reputation I expected you to be a little... older."

"Hn, that won't matter when you'll hit the cells, Red Goro. It's over."

"Funny you should say that, because I think your own situation is a bit... explosive."

Goro then pulled out a small tube with a big red button.

"What is that?"

"Heh, that, Uchiha-san, is the future. The future, which you will be no longer a part of."

As he pressed the button, chakra exploded from the tube, activating seals on each and every body in the cave system, that started to glow a bright light, seeming all to familiar to Sasuke. With a last few seconds left, he activated his Susanoo and jumped away closer to the entrance.

Then series of explosions rocked the cavern system, burying the insides of it with molten rock and battering Sasuke out like a skipping stone, making him go through several trees before he stopped. Although he managed to survive, he looked worse for wear, the edges of his jacket scorched and letting off smoke.

"That was close. The heat was a bit too extreme."

He walked back to the walled up entrance, to find the two guards' scorched remains, and the third's nowhere on sight.

"Hn, must have been blown off by the explosion."

Pondering a few moments at the entrance, he was startled by the rumbling rocks. He instinctively drew his sword and made some distance with a jump. Through the rocks Goro's blood red armour started to appear. He exited the walled cave like through shallow water, as if the cobble bared no weight.

"It seems that rumours that surround your persona are not all stories. Ha, fucking shinobi, you do know how to keep a man invested in the show!"

"To disregard so many lives only to try and get me? No, you must have known that someone would come, and placed this booby-trap to cover the escape. And yet you didn't escape."

"Enough talk, Uchiha Sasuke! Let us finish this right now!"

With that Goro drawn his sword, made out of a dark-blue metal, and entered a stance of a warrior, pointing his weapon at his enemy. As he and Sasuke started circling each other, Goro left out a laugh.

"You know, I truly revel in killing shinobi. You, scum, have been put by someone above on a step higher than other humans, and you deem yourselves gods? Ha!"

He charged at an extremely high pace, aiming to cleave Sasuke in two with one swift stroke.

"You are just cockroaches that need an extra effort in your termination! Die!"

The last Uchiha elegantly jumped over the tank of a man that Goro was now. Even without armor he stood a giant at 6,7ft, and now, with his demon helmet, he truly looked the part. Not letting the shinobi use the opening, the bandit leader jumped back at him with impossible speed. Impossible for a normal human, that is. Although he was a blur of red, Sasuke was a blur of his own, a raven afterimage, dodging and parrying every vicious strike that came at him.

Seemingly frustrated that he was being played for a fool, Goro unleashed a barrage of furious slashes, with the Uchiha blocking each and every strike perfectly, lack of an arm not being in the slightest disadvantage. Then, when they locked blades again, his dark blue sword split into two and captured Sasuke's Kusanagi. Throwing the shinobi off balance, he threw a snarling punch, faster than the Uchiha had ever seen, the force of it sending the latter flying into the mountain. The impact raised a wave of dust, a loud crack echoing around the area.

"Hahahah, you shinobi are weak! All it takes is a sturdy toy to send you flying!"

"Impressive, you defeated a log."

Goro turned around to see his opponent restfully leaning against a tree, looking not at the least entertained.

"Heh, so shinobi-like. You never fight fair."

"Neither do you. What sort of armour is that? It is covered in seals that saved you from the explosion and granted immense speed and power."

"You aren't scared are ya? If it weren't for your decoy, this good ol' Uzumaki armour would leave you a broken mess!"

With that the Uchiha walked back into the clearing, resting the sword on his shoulder.

"You didn't think you had me on the back foot the whole time, did you? Thanks for the information though, seems like playing with you wasn't a waste of time after all."

The insolent mockery on Sasuke's part seemed to have done the trick - Goro was now fuming with rage and hatred, patterns of seals glowing brighter by the second. Exploding in a rush, he stormed at the shinobi with improbable speed, picking up a wind that threw up grass and hurled dirt. Aiming to cleave the brazen upstart, he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"DIE YOU TRASH, JUST FUCKING DIE!"

And as he burrowed his sword in the Uchiha's abdomen, the latter's body started to transform into a black mass, that sprouted flocks upon flocks of ravens, that started to pick apart Goro's body, piece by piece, with him unable to do anything. As he screamed himself hoarse, he fell unconscious, consumed by the Uchiha genjutsu.

As Sasuke won the battle, he started to look about the strange patterns on the man's armor. Intricate seals he never seen before. And at the heart laid a symbol he was looking for.

"Well, I guess he was the cockroach out of the two. And you know, I'm getting really tired of loosing my head like this, Sasuke-san!"

Out of the bushes came Hibiki, the "wound" on his neck being sewed like on a muppet.

"Let me know when you'll think of a better way to keep you under the nose of the next criminal net. Get the police teams to this location, and have them start excavating rock from the cave, there might be something left of use."

As he ordered the man away, he sat down to get a better look at the symbol on Goro's plate. That symbol was a moon crest, with a particular kanji carved into it.

"Otsutsuki."


End file.
